A Pledge of Allegiance

Introduction

I will walk with you

I will lodge with you

I will be apart of your people

I will worship your God

I will die and be buried where you are

Ruth is ready to step forward by faith. The Moabites were not monotheistic in their worship. They did not deny or reject the existence of other gods, but they had developed a theology around Chemosh as their supreme god. They worshipped him almost exclusively. Ruth understood enough about the people of the family that she had married into; she knew they worshipped Yahweh alone as their God. Elimelech and Naomi and her husband were not the best witnesses of Yahweh’s faithfulness and supremacy, but she knew enough to know what it meant for her to go with Naomi.

If Ruth went with Naomi then commitments had to be made. She could hold to nothing of her upbringing, her family, and her culture. To live in Israel, she could not at all reflect the person of Moab. While she would still have much to overcome in Israel she must forsake the life she had known to honor her pledge that she is making to Naomi. In essence Ruth had to forsake the entirety of the life that she knew to honor this pledge.

This is what it takes to follow God.

We must abandon the sin of our people

Ruth was a Moabitess; a daughter of a cruel, violent, child-murdering people that offered them as sacrifices to a cruel god of their imagination. The Moabites were a cursed people, not because of their ethnicity, but because of their sin. Ruth could not hope to live in Israel following the sinful culture of her people. If she wanted to devote herself to Chemosh and his ways then she had to return to Moab with Orphah. To proceed in her journey to Bethlehem with Naomi she had to abandon the life that she knew in Moab.

Like Ruth if we are to commit to God like Ruth did we have to abandon sin. We cannot live in the sin of the world. We cannot excuse our culture, our flesh, or our way of life if we want to move forward by faith in a faithful God who loves us and desires to forgive us of our sin. We cannot have one foot in Moab and one foot in Bethlehem. It is impossible. Ruth, who had a limited understanding of Yahweh knew enough to know that it was Moab or Israel; the people of Moab or God’s people; Chemosh or Yahweh.

Ruth knew what she was doing and she chose to abandon sin to live unto Yahweh.

We must choose to live in fellowship with God

Ruth said, “Your people shall be my people, and thy God shall be my God.” She was leaving Chemosh behind. She was leaving behind her people. She was leaving behind her home. She was leaving behind her culture. She was choosing instead to move to Bethlehem and make Israel her people and to make Yahweh her God. She desired to move forward by faith. Forward to Israel so that she can live in fellowship with the God of her people. She was a Moabite by birth and she was a follower of Yahweh by choice.

She chose fellowship in God than the security she would have with her father in Moab. She could have returned to her father in Moab. She would have had the security of his home and the comfort of familiar faces. She had no idea what was waiting for her in Bethlehem. She was willing to move forward by faith. She could not see what awaited her, but she was choosing to live in fellowship with God rather than in security in Moab. Unlike the choices of Elimelech and Naomi she was not making her choices based upon what was easy, but a choice out of faith.

We must choose to give our lives in total commitment

Ruth said, “Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried.” She was acknowledging that she would never go back. She would never return to Moab, never see her family again, and never again experience her culture. She was making a lifetime commitment to Naomi. A husband and wife make a lifetime commitment to each other. Ruth was making a promise to give her life to being with Naomi, caring for her, and loving her.

When Ruth committed herself to Naomi she was also committing herself to Yahweh. She could not have one without the other. It wasn’t the same as marrying an Israelite living in Moab. She was choosing to commit to Naomi who was going home to Israel. To commit to Naomi was also to commit to Yahweh. She may have not known to what extent that meant for her and her life, but she chose to commit her life to her and to God.

Like Ruth was choosing to live in total commitment to Naomi and to Yahweh we must make the choice to live in total commitment to God. Our commitment is not to a place, a people, or a country. Our commitment should be to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Orpah and Ruth both had the same choice to make; return to their father in Moab or go with Naomi, serve Chemosh or Yahweh, live in the Moabite culture or embrace the people of Israel. They each made a different choice; Orpah made what people would view as the safe choice and Ruth made a choice to step out and move Forward by Faith. She didn’t know what was in store for her in Bethlehem, but she knew there fulfillment could not be found in Moab.

There are people here today who have made the choice to accept Jesus Christ and live in fellowship with God. There are people that though they have been born again they wrestle with their pull toward Moab and moving forward by faith. There are also people who up to now have remained in Moab; living like the world and in the sins of our culture. This passage calls us all to come out of Moab, to pursue a relationship with God, and to commit our whole life to him.

Ruth moved Forward by Faith to pursue a relationship with Yahweh, whom she barely knew, but knew enough about her life and her culture to know that Yahweh could provide a better life.

We must choose to move Forward by Faith believing that Jesus has a much better life for us than the ways of the world. Ruth and Orpah both made a choice. Ruth lived an abundant life and was grafted in to the lineage of the Messiah, our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.

We all must choose to whom we pledge our allegiance.

Ruth 1:16–18 “And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me. When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to go with her, then she left speaking unto her.”